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Monday, June 13, 2011

I hate to beat a dead horse, or theme park you might say, by revisiting Geauga Lake, but I was playing around on Google Earth and noticed that some new aerials from last Summer had been posted of the park. Well, I should say of its remains. The time feature on the program lets you make great comparison shots, so I couldn't help myself. The before shots are from 2006.

The Southern end of the park was a hub of activity - roller coasters, rides, a water park, children's area - it was all packed in here. In the after shot - not much at all is left. The Big Dipper still stands, but almost all other buildings and structures are down. Several rides here found other homes, but others weren't so lucky.

I was always fond of the entrance area that was added to Geauga by Premier, with the buildings framed by the Ferris wheel, as in the logo the park used at the time. When the bulldozers were done with this area only a few of the entrance buildings remained, and couple gift shops. The location of the Ferris wheel is rather odd looking, with piles of rubble around it.

Here are two coasters that didn't make the cut, and were demolished at the park and sold for scrap. The Villain and Double Loop were situated in the area, but in the after shot only some of their footers remain. Villain's footers, especially, remind me of neatly planted rows of crops of some type!

Another of Geauga Lake's wooden coasters was the Raging Wolf Bobs, which looks just sickly in the after photo here. The ride is faded, chipped, missing supports and track in some sections - and the station looks like it was stepped on by a giant.

Wildwater Kingdom lives on, but some of the old Seaworld property surrounding it isn't looking so hot these days. The water park actually absorbed a little more space behind that huge slide tower by adding a beach and Little Tykes play area. The section beyond it looks to be in a state of disrepair, though.

If you do not have Google Earth you can still check out the current aerials of the park here.

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NewsPlusNotes is a blog dedicated to the coverage of the amusement
industry. Our content runs the gamut from major industry headlines
to exclusive reports and items of historical significance. NewsPlusNotes
was founded in 2006, when Mike made the pivotal decision to share his
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NPN remained a solo effort until October 2008, when Mike welcomed three
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